Last week in the Timeline Project Step 1, we talked about the subconscious stories we create from events of the past which we cycle and recycle through our minds. Stories are a powerful medium. We count on them to help us make sense of the world, for our good or to our detriment.

Do you regularly churn through your past and reflect on things you’ve done? If so, you are not alone. We each mull over what has happened and constantly use our ability to harness hindsight as a means to make sense of our experience.

The only hitch is when we let old stories supersede new evidence or stop us from enjoying the full bang of our hindsight buck. Take a moment to re-read that, because it’s a mouthful.

If hindsight is 20/20, it’s valuable. We grow and learn to live better every day by examining the past.

Examining and learning from the past, however, is not the same thing as dwelling. Are you getting your full “bang for your buck” with the hindsight you gain? Or are you calling it “hindsight” when it’s really something else?

This week the goal is to create a visual of those markers of your past you identified last week. This will be in the form of a timeline of events to help you view your history “from above” and see if you can gain more helpful insights.

RATE YOUR EVENTS AND CREATE YOUR INFOGRAPHIC TIMELINE

In the first phase of creating your timeline on #thepoweroftimelineproject, you left off by listing your significant life events. Your list might be a tally of roughly one event every other year, or maybe (like me) you have more.  

Review your list of events and place them in chronological order, noting the age you were when each took place. Next, rate each event as either a positive or negative event. Then, rate each on a scale of 1 to 10 as to the level of positive or negative impact.

Select a piece of paper to pinpoint the events on a linear timeline. Place your birth date at the beginning (left) of your timeline, and then position increments of time along the line choosing the increments that fit your events and age into the space you have.

For example, at the age of 57, I created 1962, 1971, 1980 and 2000. Your timeline will have points based on what works for your age and the number of events that happened before or after these “bookend” years.

My handwriting is terribly sloppy, so I drafted the timeline on my computer, but you can produce it by hand on a piece of paper if you prefer, or perhaps in your journal over a two-page spread. Whichever feels most natural to you.

First, draw a horizontal line across the center of the paper on its X (or “landscape”) axis. Place a “+” symbol in the top right-hand corner of the page and a “-” in the right lower corner.

Pin the events along the timeline, either on the positive side or the negative side of the axis, and position them vertically up or down based on the scale rating as well (the “10” extremes will be out on the top and bottom of the page, respectively, and “1” for each scale will be by the center axis).

With each point, make a short note of the event and your age.

Once you’ve completed the infographic of your timeline it should look something like this:

THREE INITIAL TAKEAWAYS AND QUESTIONS FROM YOUR TIMELINE VIEW

Perspective is EVERYTHING: As you look at your visual timeline, can you identify any events that you’ve already flipped as to their “positive” or “negative” impact since step one of this process? Identify events that were the result of direct choices versus those events that happened outside of your control, too. This will help you flip the internal dialog on other events as well.

I’ll admit that I’ve held onto personal wounds of childhood for years, especially during my adolescence and young adult life. I bought in to self-pity and identified by my jagged history.

With time, I realized that my view was distorted and lopsided as I learned that others have stories of their own.

You only know ONE side of anything: It’s humbling to recognize that much of what you think about your history can be easily misconstrued when it is tested against the recollections of others.

As you review your events, have you ever checked your memories in comparison to others involved with the same event?

Of all the things I know transpired in the past, I recognize more than ever that I’m limited to only my point of view.

If you’re fortunate to share your significant events with others in your life, compare notes and see how they remember the events and what was significant. Note that if those experiences are viewed differently by others, the chances are that your memories of other events are limited, too.

You are defined by no ONE thing: You are no one thing you’ve done or been. You are not the person you were in your past, nor will you be the person you are today when tomorrow arrives.

What significant opinions have changed as you have changed? How has that shaped your decisions moving forward?

If you recognize that your thoughts change, can you review old stories again and recognize that they can be re-framed, too? The trick is to identify the stories that are so subtle you’ve lost that they are even cycling through.

I think about who I was as a young girl, for example, and even as a young woman, and I realize it was years before I cut her much slack. She had lots of stuff going on and lots of misinformed ideas whirling around.

The thing is, that young girl wasn’t so bad in hindsight. She was just a kid after all who was dealing with life based on the information and tools she had at the time. I can see that as I survey my timeline.

If I were the adult I am now, in her life and intimately aware of her story, I’d like to think I’d have offered her some assurances that she had worthy qualities.

Like so many, I absolutely wish I had learned some of the important lessons of life earlier, such as those outlined in the article “10 Important Life Lessons to ” by Royale Scudari.

DEEPER MEANING IN YOUR TIMELINE NEXT PHASE

In step three of #thepoweroftimelineproject, you’ll look at your timeline and ponder other ideas more deeply with more questions. The next step will be particularly handy for journal writing.

Remember, the goal is to re-frame your thoughts, and see if you can harness fresher more useful stories to help you go forward.

Again, I’d like to give proper credit for the bulk of this project to Athena Staik, Ph.D. who created the content used to harness this project.

Sherry is the founder of Storied Gifts a personal publishing service of family and company histories. She and her team help clients curate and craft their stories into books. When not writing or interviewing, Sherry spends loads of time with her grandchildren and lives in Des Moines, Iowa.

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The shop is a mother and daughter venture for Sherry and Alexandra Borzo of Content In Motion. They both work to help their client's stories sing. The shop is their effort to inspire a focus on healthy minds for everyone through positive thought.

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